Winter Paralympic storylines

There is never a shortage of intriguing athletes, events, and storylines at the Paralympics.

In recent years, athletes have emphasized the need to highlight their achievements over their impairments. So, come for the performances and stay for the stories. Here are some things worth watching at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games…

Multi-sport athletes reign

Two of the most athletic humans in America are competing together in their eighth consecutive Paralympic games. Yes, you read that right: Oksana Masters and Aaron Pike have been members of every U.S. Paralympic team — summer and winter — since 2012. Oh, and they are also engaged and plan to get married shortly after their events.

Masters is already the most decorated Winter Paralympian in U.S. history with 19 medals (14 in winter events) and has competed in Para Biathlon, Para Cross-Country Skiing, Para-Cycling, and Para-Rowing. Pike set an American record in the wheelchair marathon and has earned 9 world championship medals in Para Cross-Country Skiing, Para Biathlon, and Para Track and Field. He is looking for his first Paralympic medal in Italy.

Competing in multiple Paralympic sports is certainly not the norm, but it's also not completely unorthodox. Paralympians are commonly recruited across seasons with skills that translate across sports. This is especially true for athletes in endurance sports like nordic skiing and long distance track and field. In fact, Team USA has two more para athletes who have already donned the red, white, and blue in the summer games and will compete for podiums in Italy: Kendall Gretsch and Dani Aravich.

Blind skiing is a family affair

The Aigner family have been called the von Trapps of vision-impaired skiing. Veronika Aigner, along with her twin siblings Johannes and Barbara, are all competing in Italy. Another sister, Elizabeth, skis as Veronika’s guide. Together, the Austrian siblings and their guides won 11 medals (including six gold) at the 2022 Paralympic games in Beijing. If they were a sovereign country, the Aigner family would have finished eighth in the overall medal count!

Veronika, Johannes, and Barbara were all born with congenital cataracts and have each had at least two surgeries to stabilize their vision. Their mother, Petra Aigner, was born with the same eye condition and can no longer see her children race from the stands. Although, Petra may have provided the most honest parenting quote of the 2022 games when she said, “I’m glad I can’t see it… I would be too nervous.”

The guide-athlete relationship is an incredibly intimate example of teamwork. In addition to the Aigners, there are several other visually impaired athletes competing with the aid of a relative as their guide. Carina Edlinger (Austria), Eléonor Sana (Belgium), Neil Simpson (Great Britain), and Mac Marcoux (Canada) all ski with one of their siblings guiding the way.

Building knees and chasing medals

The story of Mike Schultz is part of para sport lore. Schultz was a nationally-ranked snowmobile racer when a 2008 crash resulted in the amputation of his left leg above the knee. Schultz became frustrated by the lack of prosthetics designed for action sports, so he started tinkering on a new design in his garage to help him get back to riding snowmobiles and dirt bikes. The result, dubbed the "Moto Knee", revolutionized the game. Schultz described it as a "suspension component" for his leg.

After winning gold medals at both the Summer and Winter X Games, Schultz set his sights on Para Snowboard. He also founded a company, BioDapt, to produce more prosthetics and help more athletes, including most of his competitors. Schultz estimates that 95% of the top Para Snowboard athletes with lower limb impairments now use his products. "Monster Mike" recently announced that he will be retiring after the 2026 games to focus full-time on creating the next generation of high-performance prosthetics. It will be hard to find another athlete who has had a bigger impact on their sport.

There’s more hockey

USA Hockey already won big in Italy, taking home gold medals in both the men’s and women’s Olympic ice hockey events. But, the most successful hockey team in the U.S. right now is undeniably the group of Paralympians who play the sled game. Team USA Para Ice Hockey is going for their fifth consecutive gold medal at the 2026 games. 

Although Para Ice Hockey is officially considered a mixed gender sport, men continue to make up most of the roster spots. Women's Para Ice Hockey is on the rise after hosting its first world championship in 2025, but is not yet included in the Paralympic program. Michaela Hozakova and Akari Fukunishi are two players working to change that. Hozakova, a forward for Slovakia, and Fukunishi, a defender for Japan, are the only two women competing in the field of eight international teams at the Milano Cortina Paralympics.

Watch out for wheelchair curling

Oyuna Uranchimeg began curling at age 43. Over a decade later, she is now entering her second Paralympic Games as a leader of the U.S Wheelchair Curling squad. The upstart team plans to build off a strong fifth-place finish in Beijing to get on the podium for the first time ever.

Uranchimeg was born in Mongolia and was visiting friends in Minnesota when she was involved in a car crash. The accident left her paralyzed with a spinal cord injury in a foreign country away from her husband and six-year-old son. As she recovered and realized the full scope of accessibility challenges that awaited her in Mongolia, Uranchimeg made the difficult decision to remain in the U.S. to continue her rehabilitation. After eight years, her son was finally able to join her in the States and she became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Uranchimeg credits Wheelchair Curling for connecting her with a community and a purpose following her injury.

Breaking new ground

Four countries — El Salvador, Haiti, Montenegro, and North Macedonia — will make their Winter Paralympic debuts in 2026. El Salvador will send David Chavez and Jonathan Arias to compete in Para Cross-Country Skiing. Chavez reportedly saw snow for the first time in 2023 and has conducted the majority of his training on the tropical beaches of his homeland. Haiti and North Macedonia will be represented by para alpine skiers Ralf Etienne and Zoran Jovanovski. Para Snowboarder Andrej Sibalic will represent Montenegro. All of the athletes received some support from the IPC's Sport for Mobility program, which provides grants to emerging nations to support athlete travel and competition expenses.

Enjoy the games!